slinkymalinky Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Went out today with BrettP on the harbour and in Middle Harbour just to muck around with soft plastics and have a laid back day.. for once not chasing kings. At first light we got out a little off South Head and managed all of 10 minutes fishing before the predicted South Westerly hit and we snuck back inside. Brett managed a pesky Jacket on a Gulp before we left and we found the most fantastic looking undercut ledge showing big schools of bait holding around it on the sounder that we'll go back to on a better day. As often happens when BrettP and I fish together we then got side tracked by squid fishing. It always starts out as 'lets get some bait' which this time we thought we throw around some potential Jewie haunts but finishes with ... "ok, lets just fish this last stretch of kelp... ok, this stretch of kelp... ok this one...". What can I say, we both love squid fishing in its own right. The usual spots didn't produce today (the water was very dirty... always a big negative for good squidding) and after a short diversion with BrettP catching a couple of little Trevs on plastic and a bait jig, we tried a couple of new spots. Sure enough, when we found the clean water/kelp/sand/rock mix we have confidence in, the squiddies followed. We only got 3 in the half hour or so we fished the new spots but what they lacked in number they made up for in size. We couldn't bring ourselves to use more than one of the heads for bait but BrettP has some calamari rings on the menu tonight (my daughter being alaphalactic to seafood, BrettP got lucky and got to keep them all... only fair since he caught 2 of them). After that we raced up to above the Roseville Bridge (the last bit racing at 4 knots of course!!) to try our luck with the softies again. BrettP made the big statement that he's "never had to use such big rubbers before" but I'm sure he was talking about the big Gulps we fished for a while. We settled into a bit of a groove and got right up into the upper reaches on the turn of the tide where we fished a combination of 3" and 5" plastics. Eventually persistance paid off when I hooked into a nice flattie that went 48cm. BrettP was getting a lot of tails shortened by little chopper Tailor but our confidence was pretty high with bait fish in abundance and plently of taps and hits on our lures. Wandering lazily back downstream following the tide after the turn we got to a drop-off we'd marked on the sounder on the way up and found bait showering along the edges. Spotting a school of mullet cruising the drop off I fired a cast to the back of the school and after a couple of jiggles of the 5" Gulp, hooked into a fish that rolled up to the surface before spitting the hook..... JEWIE! My first try targeting them on plastics and I managed to find one. I got a good if brief look at him and boy... will I be trying that again. A few more bumps and half hearted hits, one more tailor hooked and lost and two jig heads lost to the bankside vegetation and we toddled back to the ramp. All very civilised, non-stinky and relaxing... I'm going to really love this plastic fishing now that I've got the bug (and so will GoFish Pete... I have to go past his shop to get home and it's way to convenient to drop in and restock on tails). See you on the water, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettP Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Slinky, Thanks again, great day as usual. One day we will get past the Squid grounds, but I am not in any hurry. Just about to have salt and pepper Squid now. Cheers Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 (edited) Hi Slinkymalinky. Tony, when you keep those squid heads old mate, just leave about an inch of the tube intact and carefully cut around the tube to keep the entrails intact, trimming thin strips of flesh all the way down the outside of the squid to make the head etc one piece, while keeping part of side flaps intact with the knife cut. That way we can halve each squid head down the centre of the head, the inch tube section and entrails etc. to make two long baits with one eye each and half a head, each side showing bare flesh and leaking out ink, and you can divide the entrails as well. If you do that carefully Tony, BrettP has permission to eat the rest. Cheers jewgaffer Edited May 8, 2008 by jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Nice laid back report there Slinky, and nice looking squid, they will go down well with a . And bad luck on that Jewy that gave u the slip. penguin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted May 8, 2008 Author Share Posted May 8, 2008 Hi Slinkymalinky. Tony, when you keep those squid heads old mate, just leave about an inch of the tube intact and carefully cut around the tube to keep the entrails intact, trimming thin strips of flesh all the way down the outside of the squid to make the head etc one piece, while keeping part of side flaps intact with the knife cut. That way we can halve each squid head down the centre of the head, the inch tube section and entrails etc. to make two long baits with one eye each and half a head, each side showing bare flesh and leaking out ink, and you can divide the entrails as well. If you do that carefully Tony, BrettP has permission to eat the rest. Cheers jewgaffer Sorry Byron, The surgery has already been done but not to specifications. I have the heads and entrails in a zip lock bag in the freezer (I don't have any vacuum packing device unfortunately) but they're ready and waiting to go anyway. Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Dan Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 well done fellas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VA911 Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 lovely looking squidies there slinky. Hope they are out to play on saturday. Plastic fishing is fun but how tempting would it have been to put out those squid on the rigger. well done containing yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King slayer Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Nice one Slinky, We've been getting some stonkers too, and quite a few havw followed baits in, yakkas, fillets and even squid heads! They taste great hey. Always a tough decision between eating or baiting and heart breaking when pinkies smash them too! Nice work on the jewie! He'll be back. Nice one Slinky, We've been getting some stonkers too, and quite a few havw followed baits in, yakkas, fillets and even squid heads! They taste great hey. Always a tough decision between eating or baiting and heart breaking when pinkies smash them too! Nice work on the jewie! He'll be back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plankton Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 I think there are more squid this year too. At on eof my local spots in the harbour I had some really big squid smashing my yakkas. They were reduced t nothing in no time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Soprano Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 (edited) Nice squid slinky... I'm with you on the squidding thing, I get just as much enjoyment from catching squid as I do chasing any other fish... It's a nice relaxing form of fishing. Cheers Tony Edited May 9, 2008 by Tony Soprano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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